Don't Assume
by EHSparkwoman
Summary: When Jack notices Miko acting strangely, he goes to ask his partner about it. What Arcee tells him will change his, Miko's and Raf's opinions of the Transformers forever. Oneshot.


**AN: I don't own Transformers; it belongs to whoever created it. I don't know what spawned this idea, but I really like it! Set during some undetermined time during season 1; but definitely after episode 12.**

It was one of those days at the Autobot base. The 'cons weren't attacking and so the Autobots had some time to themselves.

"In. Your. Face!" Except for the three children playing that racing game again. It seemed as if Miko and Jack had a running total of how many times they had won; as they kept cheering when they did.

"I'll beat you next time!" Miko growled back, haphazardly putting the controller down and walking off to see if Bulkhead wanted an excuse to go out. Jack couldn't help pondering something though… _If Miko was_ actually _trying to win; why did she_ let _me get into the lead and not try to overtake…?_ Jack pointed this out Raf.

"Maybe she just isn't in the mood for racing today. It would explain why she walked off just now." Raf answered him.

"Miko would still try to win though, even if she wasn't in the mood."

"I don't know then! Maybe it's a girl thing…" Raf shrugged and went back to what he was working on, on his computer. Jack thought about that for a few seconds. _Raf said it might be a girl thing… or maybe it's a Miko thing…_ Jack then came to a conclusion. _What if Miko… likes me as more than a friend? Girls don't like to discuss those sorts of things. Maybe I should ask the only other girl who might be able to tell if the way Miko is acting is like that of a girl with a crush._ Jack then climbed down from the human's area and went to look for Arcee. It didn't take him long to find her; she was in her room. She didn't seem to be all that busy; so he walked in.

"What's up Jack? Is it time for you to head home already?" Arcee asked, unsure of why else her partner would have come to see her at the moment.

"Uh… I kinda wanted to ask you something." Jack looked nervous.

"It's not about street racing again is it? Because Optimus outlawed it last time." Arcee told him, her voice firm. Jack quickly answered her.

"No, it's not that. It's… something that only you can help me with." Arcee looked intrigued, so Jack continued.

"Uh… Miko was acting a little bit different to normal earlier."

"Is there a normal for Miko? She does everything her own way." Arcee pondered, but otherwise let Jack continue.

"Well, I won at that racing game we are always playing…"

"And you both are terrible winners and losers." Arcee couldn't believe that these two were nearly adults when they were playing that game.

"But she let me win. She let me get into the lead and then didn't challenge for the lead at all."

"Maybe she just didn't want to race today?" Arcee wasn't sure what Jack was trying to get at.

"Maybe, but she's not been in the mood for racing before and she still tries… It was almost like she wanted me to win so I would be happy…" Arcee looked confused, where was her partner going with this?

"Do you think she might like me as more than a friend?" Jack's question stunned Arcee a little.

"Um… I'm not sure where you would get that idea from." She answered him.

"If you liked somebody that way Arcee, would you want them to be happy even if it meant that you lost?"

"Maybe? I don't know…" Her voice got quieter now.

"I've never liked anybody that way before…"

"You're a girl. If you had a crush on one of the boys… would you tell them out right? Or try and make them guess?" Jack didn't seem to catch on to what she had said quietly, or he'd otherwise ignored it.

"I'd tell someone outright if I liked them, Jack. Or if I thought they were attractive… But there's one problem with your statement." Arcee looked a tiny bit amused, but Jack couldn't work out why.

"What's that?" Jack looked confused.

"You said I was a girl." Arcee told him. Jack looked up at her in shock.

"Is that the wrong term for a female of your kind? Because I can't imagine you being anything other than a female." Jack looked worried, Arcee had gone silent and he hoped he hadn't offended her somehow.

"Females of our species are called femmes Jack, but that isn't the issue. You're assigning human gendering to us." Jack's jaw fell open in shock; he felt like he shouldn't be hearing this, but felt he had to know about it more now.

"Is Cybertronian gendering different?" He wished he hadn't asked that question as soon as he heard Arcee's answer.

"Quite different. Femmes are quite big and powerful, have deep voices and tend to be quite tall. Mechs on the other hand, are smaller, curvier and have higher pitched voices." Jack looked completely stunned. Arcee had just told him how different their species were and he had no idea if he'd offended her… no _him_ , Jack corrected himself, Arcee fit the description of a Cybertronian male.

"You mean that… Bulkhead and Bumblebee and Ratchet and Wheeljack are _female_?" That just didn't sit right with Jack; they all looked and sounded male to him.

"So are Optimus, Megatron, Soundwave, Knock Out and Breakdown." Jack's expression changed somehow but Arcee couldn't work out how.

"But… that doesn't seem right. You don't look male."

"Under human terms, you're right. To Cybertronian terms, you'd be wrong." Arcee waited for it to sink in. Jack stood in silence for nearly a minute before asking another question.

"Does… that mean Airachnid is male as well?" Jack silently hoped not, the way he? Was acting was a little bit creepy if he? Was a male.

"Yes, he is."

"Then… why was he acting like he was attracted to me?" Jack couldn't help wondering about what Airachnid was saying; did that mean she… no _he_ was into mechs and should Arcee be worried?

"Maybe he hadn't looked up what your species was like. Must have thought you were a femme Jack!" Arcee answered him, sniggering a little at the mistake Airachnid had made.

"What about Starscream? You didn't mention him."

"Her I think. What with the way that she can pitch her voice and her slender body, I'm not a hundred percent sure." What Arcee had said made Jack laugh; he didn't know Starscream's gender because she? Could get quite high pitched when angry and had a skinny body. _I'm never going to be able to look at Optimus straight again…_ Jack thought; he was really struggling to believe that particular bit of information.

"So, to answer your question about Miko, Jack… I wouldn't know how a girl might think…" Jack had completely forgotten why he came to speak to Arcee in the first place, with what he had told him.

"But, you might want to ask her. That's what I'd do if a femme was acting strangely around me." Jack seemed happy with this answer, but wasn't sure he wanted to ask Miko about that just yet. He'd wait a couple of days and see if this unusual behaviour persisted.

"Thanks for the help Arcee." Jack thanked him, heading towards the door.

"You're welcome partner." Jack wasn't sure about that turn of phrase now; he now knew his 'partner' was also a he. Jack supposed he didn't mind; he was used to it now. He headed back into the main area and saw Miko and Bulkhead watching something on the TV. Another monster truck rally? Hadn't those two seen enough of them already? He also realised that Miko and Raf needed to be told about their guardians and how their gender wasn't what they thought it was. He went over and tapped Raf on the shoulder, making the younger boy look at him.

"There's something I need to tell you and Miko. I'll just go and get her." Jack quickly found the remote to the TV and switched it off, earning him a noise of complaint from both her and Bulkhead.

"Miko, there something I need to tell you and Raf."

"Can't it wait until _after_ I've watched this monster truck rally?"

"It's kinda important." Miko grumbled at him, but went over to where Raf was sitting.

"Right… I guess there is something I need to tell you about the Transformers…" Jack started. Both Raf and Miko looked intrigued.

"We've been assigning human genders to them this whole time."

"But, isn't that right?" Raf looked confused.

"No way could Bulkhead be anything but a guy!" Miko sounded confident in that fact.

"Actually, I had a talk with Arcee. He told me about how Cybertronians are gendered." Jack then explained to both of them the same thing that Arcee had explained to him. Neither Raf or Miko noticed that Jack referred to Arcee as a he.

"So… Bumblebee is female." Raf sounded a little surprised, but accepting of the fact.

"Bulkhead can't be female, he's too big!" Miko on the other hand…

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Jack had a smug look on his face.

"Hey Bulk, Jack said you were female! You're a guy, aren't you?" Miko shouted to her partner.

"Um… Actually Jack's right. And based on what he said, Arcee told it like it is, like he always does." Bulkhead quickly answered her, to make sure that she didn't think she was ignoring her. The shocked look on Miko's face almost made Jack laugh.

"You mean Bulkhead's a girl? He… _she_ doesn't just scream like one?" Miko sniggered after a moment of collecting herself. Bulkhead decided against correcting her, she screamed like a mech actually.

"I'm not the only one. Optimus, Ratchet and Jackie are too." Miko looked like she was struggling to grasp that concept; even though it was the same one as before.

"I'm never going to be able to look at Optimus the same way…" Miko said just quietly enough that Bulkhead didn't hear.

"You and me both." Jack told her.

"But… if the Cybertronians with low pitched voices are female, doesn't that mean all of the Decepticons are femmes too?" Raf's innocent question managed to make Miko's jaw drop just thinking about it.

"Yes Raf, they are." Jack answered him, again trying very hard not to laugh at the look on Miko's face.

"You mean… Megatron's a girl?" Miko seemed most surprised about that one.

"Yes." Jack answered her, remembering that Arcee definitely named her when he ran through the list of Transformers.

"Uh, not that us knowing this changes much but…"

"Are you kidding? It changes everything!" Miko interrupted Raf.

"How did you get Arcee to talk about this anyway?" Raf finished his question.

"Yeah, how did you get her… _him_ to talk about this?" Miko looked confusedly at Jack. Jack decided it would be better to leave out the details.

"I went to ask him something that I thought he would know, because he was a girl… and he told me that he was a mech." Jack was thankful that they didn't ask what he asked Arcee about. He _really_ didn't want to tell Miko about that just yet; just in case she laughed in his face. The three children decided that they couldn't have offended the 'bots, or they would have said something sooner. Jack decided that he keep the 'bot's genders in mind, but maybe he'd forget about Miko's supposed crush on him. He couldn't face it if she decided to laugh in his face about it.

 **AN: As I was writing this, my head was screaming at** _ **me**_ **how wrong it is too, but it was a 'what if?' idea. Does Miko have a crush on Jack (and vice versa)? I'll leave that one up to you! I have no idea where this mad idea came from, but I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**


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